Red Seas Under Red Skies read-along, part 2!

welcome to week two of our read along for Scott Lynch’s Red Seas Under Red Skies, the 2nd book in his Gentleman Bastard sequence. If you haven’t read this book, beware, thar be spoilers. We’re not too far in, if you’ve like to join, just leave a note in the comments, or feel free to tweet me, I’d be happy to deal you in next hand. on twitter? use hashtag #lynchmob.

this week’s reading section covered The Lady of the Glass Pylon through the end of Chapter six, and now we’re really up to our eyeballs in it! The Gents got pulled off one job and bodily tossed onto another. We learned a bit more about some of our minor characters, and just possibly got a few hints as to a bigger picture. Locke and Jean learned there’s lots more to do on a boat besides get seasick. Also, one of my most favorite lines in a book, EVER, which I believe nicely sums up the plot of the book:

“How the screaming fucking hell do you expect the two of us to raise a bloody pirate armada in a place we’ve never been and convince it to come merrily die at the hands of the navy that bent it over the table and fucked it in the ass the last time?”

For the life of me, I don’t know why that isn’t on the blurb on the back of the book. 😉 Every time i get to that scene I giggle uncontrollably, read that line out loud to my other half, and since these books aren’t his thing he’s like “uh huh.” I LOVE all the dialog between Locke and Jean and Caldris. Caldris ain’t such a bad guy once they get to know him, he’s seen some tough times too.

Now that we know a little more about Selendri and Requin, what do you think of them? I worry Locke is suddenly realizing this con might be a bit tougher than he expected.

More ultra tragic characters? Jeez, when is Lynch going to write a character to which nothing bad every happens, and that person lives a long boring life doing nothing of consequence and sustains no bodily injuries. oh wait, that would boring. Poor Selendri, I do feel awful about what happened to her. Her and Requin have a sort of obsessive compulsive relationship, it seems. I get the impression that Requin doesn’t really give a shit what Locke is up to. I mean, he does care, he doesn’t want his vault broken into, but his first priority is Selendri. and strange as their relationship is, that’s pretty fucking romantic.

and it’s so funny that Locke is completely flabbergasted by Selendri. He’s trying to get to know her a little bit, so he can use his wiles on her, but she’s having absolutely none of that. And I think his nervousness, his “shit i don’t know what to say to you!” is what’s making her soften towards him, just a teensy weensy bit. and that brass hand? vicious!

Isn’t the Artificers’ Crescent just amazing? If you could purchase anything there, what would it be?

a perfect clockwork toaster oven. Seriously. my toaster always burns the back of the bread, but the front near the door isn’t toasted enough. And damnit, I want a clockwork toaster that makes the most perfectly toasted bread anyone ever ate. You know Jean would appreciate it.

What did you think of Salon Corbeau and the goings on that occur there? A bit crueler than a Camorri crime boss, no?

Yikes that place is disturbing. If there is anything on this wide blue earth to make Locke realize the rich are the only ones who deserve to be robbed, that the Secret Peace protected the same kinds of people who would gentle kittens and stone people for fun, Salon Corbeau is that place. And that flashback with Father Chains telling a much younger Locke about how the rich remember? Perfect timing, that. just thinking about that place makes me want to wash my mouth out.

The Archon might be a megalomaniacal military dictator, but he thinks he’s doing right by Tal Verrar: his ultimate goal seems to be to protect them. What do you think he’s so afraid of?

I wish I knew. there are some hints dropped, but I don’t think even he knows what’s going to happen. There was a scene early on in the book, involving the Quill Pen Rebellion. Printing presses have been invented, and the scriveners are freaking out. That means technology is coming, possibly technology that can beat the magic of the Bondsmagi. I’m not talking super high tech stuff or anything, but can you imagine what a steam engine would mean for these people? for the short term, the Archon just needs the funding of the Priori so he can build a mega Navy.

And who the heck is trying to kill Locke and Jean every few days? they just almost got poisoned (again!)!

again, I wish I knew! I’d ask who else they’ve pissed off, but the question should really be who haven’t they pissed off! Good thing Merain keeps following them around.

Do you really think it’s possibly for a city rat like Locke to fake his way onto a Pirate ship?

sometimes I wonder if they shouldn’t have made Jean the fake captain. Locke can look the part, but Jean is smart, he actually studies the books and the charts, he can talk the talk and walk the walk, whereas Locke can just spew out random nautical slang into a semblance of a sentence. I like my boys intelligent, I wish Locke had just a smidgen more appreciate for the written word. If he’s going to be my book boyfriend, this could be a deal breaker.

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34 Responses to "Red Seas Under Red Skies read-along, part 2!"

I think Locke will use Selendri against Requin and somehow get him to open up the vault. Maybe the secret to breaking the vault is in those chairs. I really want to know what makes them so special dammit!

Selendri and Requin, perhaps my OTP in this series, although we’ll have to see what else pops up in the next five books. It’s a little twisted maybe, but so beautiful!
I think Jean has a little too gentle a heart to really pull off a captain – and besides, Locke wouldn’t make much of a first, at least not in my head. Unless he decided to play it sort of sneaky and tattle-tale, which would just make people hate him.
Jean is def up on the top three of my list of Book Boyfriend Candidates. Might be number one, actually. He’s such a sweetheart! ^^

Yes, I did a bit of quoting out loud from the book this week – completely to the underwhelmed audience of my family – and got called a ‘geek’ into the bargain. Just plain rude.
I think you’ve come up with something there – everybody’s toaster burns the bread! Even with 8 different settings!! Don’t tell anyone though or else they’re gonna rob that idea for themselves 😦
I really enjoyed the scene with Chains again – we were all speculating during TLOLL about Chains motives and that seems to have shed a little bit of light at a very appropriate time.http://lynnsbooks.wordpress.com/2012/05/05/red-seas-under-red-skies-by-scott-lynch-readalong-week-2/
Lynn 😀

I thought the exact thing about Jean and Locke and who should be captain. As much as Locke is a great con-man, running a ship requires a great deal of knowledge and Jean is the only one who would be willing to learn enough and smart enough to absorb it all. I also agree about the Archon using tech to take on the Bondsmagi although I cannot see it happening that soon.

I’m on the page with you on this one, except for the nagging feeling at the back of my brain that Locke is the one who thinks quickly in a tight spot. Plus, it leaves Jean free to watch Locke’s back – I know who I’d sooner have watching my back!
Lynn 😀

[…] but I could swear it was worse when I was reading that bit. The readalong is being hosted by the Little Red Reviewer who this week also provided the questions and it’s not too late to join the fun. So, […]

[…] Back this week with an interruption in the #Reviewathon to play in the Red Seas Under Red Skies Read Along. Part 1 is here if you’re curious. This week’s questions are from Andrea at the Little Red Reviewer and she also has more info here. […]

I think the crew are more likely to ask questions of a first mate and he has to be able to spot people doing things incorrectly, whereas the captain just has to make executive decisions, so it seems sensible to put the more book-learned Jean in that pivotal position. Plus, he can always punch out anyone who mouths off against him! 😀

It was so great to see Chains again, but I think Caldis might give him a run for his money as a world-weary, crusty old fart!

The Quill Pen rebellion struck me as a sly reference to the industrial revolution. Then the rowing team hoping that they wouldn’t be replaced (we have ships!) and so on. It will be interesting how Lynch advances the technology when he starts the next series after the Gentleman Bastard one.

great recipes, I bookmarked them! I should have known, oil wouldn’t mix so well with liquor. but it could be like the hot and sour soup I make, the tiny bit of chili oil floats to the top, and it’s in every spoonful so the soup tastes super spicy even tho there is just a pinch of chili oil.

Now that we know a little more about Selendri and Requin, what do you think of them? I worry Locke is suddenly realizing this con might be a bit tougher than he expected.

Selendri! She’s my favorite supporting character, even more so than Nazca or Vorchenza or the Salvaras or Zamira. I think that bit about her being an Eye is fascinating; I wonder why she stopped? Requin I never warmed up to, but perhaps if I read the book a third time I could grow to like him (it worked with Edmund Bertram, after all). Requin, I remember from high school, is French for shark.

Isn’t the Artificers’ Crescent just amazing? If you could purchase anything there, what would it be?

Hmmm, I would purchase . . . something cool. *shrugs*

What did you think of Salon Corbeau and the goings on that occur there? A bit crueler than a Camorri crime boss, no?

Terrible place, that Salon Corbeau. Very terrible place.

The Archon might be a megalomaniacal military dictator, but he thinks he’s doing right by Tal Verrar: his ultimate goal seems to be to protect them. What do you think he’s so afraid of?

Isn’t he afraid of losing power to the Priori? I haven’t actually reread it, I’m going off of memory.

And who the heck is trying to kill Locke and Jean every few days? they just almost got poisoned (again!)!

Killers are trying to kill them. *nods*

Do you really think it’s possibly for a city rat like Locke to fake his way onto a Pirate ship?

Probably! I mean, they have Caldris, and faking his way is what Locke does. Jean isn’t into the false-facing thing as much as Locke is, so I think being first mate suits him.

Selendri is great! all these wonderful minor characters needs their own prequel novella, I want to know more about what happened when she was an Eye. and I love Lynch’s description of all the shenanigans on the Artificers’ Crescent, with the water works and all, that was brilliant.

I like the idea of defeating magic with technology. I wonder if that’s the direction this series is going to go! I think Jean would make a better pirate captain, too, but he would also make a better ‘strongman’. Locke just isn’t really putting forth the effort to get into the sailor-stuff like Jean is.

You’re right, the flashback with Chains was really a perfect timing, sometimes those are a bit annoying coming up in the middle of some action, but here it was really… perfect. They need to do something about this place, they have to!

Oh, and I used to have a great toaster drawing faces on your toast… maybe you should try that while waiting for the perfect clockwork toaster!

Have to agree with all the technology stuff, it’s really kind of interesting to have everything set in a world where the ‘old ways’ (magic) could potentially go out of the window. Their artificing is amazing, look at what the Archon has arranged to be built so far, the butterflies and that little show with creating the wind, he’s a bit of a visionary, and the world is allowing people to explore and create.

with all of his mechanical artificery he’s striking me as a “magic? we don’t need no stinkin’ magic!” kind of person. He likes to be in control, and since he can’t control magic, he is surrounding himself with forces he can control.

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some of the books reviewed here were free ARCs supplied by publishers/authors/other groups. Some of the books here I got from the library. the rest I *gasp!* actually paid for. I'll do my best to let you know what's what.